


Hey, have you seen the... Oh

by longhairshortfuse



Series: One Shot Wonders [5]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-24
Updated: 2014-11-24
Packaged: 2018-02-26 21:46:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2667461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/longhairshortfuse/pseuds/longhairshortfuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos has lost something. Where could it be?<br/>100% fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hey, have you seen the... Oh

**Author's Note:**

  * For [type_here](https://archiveofourown.org/users/type_here/gifts).



> Prompt & pairing supplied by type_here over on Tumblr.  
> Thanks!

Carlos rummaged in the box, you know, that one that never gets unpacked after moving house. It's not always the same box but there is always one. It had lain neglected at the back of the under stairs cupboard since he and Cecil had moved in to their little house months ago.

"Cecil? Have you seen...?"  
He caught himself in time. Cecil didn't know about it. It was going to be a surprise. He wrestled the box out from the back of the cupboard, emerging dusty and dishevelled. Cecil appeared in the doorway.

"Oh are you unpacking that at last? Will there be enough room in the cupboard for my woodcarving kit?"  
"I estimate that there will be. Want me to move stuff to make it easier to find? I can stack things in a more logical order, you know, alphabetical or chronological or something."  
Cecil laughed.  
"Remember that day you reordered all the DVD cases in chronological order and the Faceless Old Woman swapped the discs around just to piss you off?"  
Carlos frowned.  
"I didn't see the funny side. I still haven't found my copy of _Aliens."_  
"Good, that documentary freaked me out."  
"Cecil it's not a... oh never mind. You busy?"  
"No. Oh! Am I about to be busy? Hmm, you sure need a shower."  
Carlos giggled at the tone of Cecil's voice. The box could wait.

It wasn't in the box.

Later, Carlos pulled out all the teeshirts from the floor of his closet and searched behind them and under them. He investigated the drawer underneath, pushing aside his collection of socks and shorts but it wasn’t there either. Without thinking, he called out.

“Cecil, have you seen…?”

He caught himself before he finished the question and bit his lip.  
“Sorry, what did you say?”  
“Never mind.”  
“Have you lost something? Can I help find it?”  
“No, it doesn’t matter, thanks though. I’m just tidying out my clothes.”  
Cecil’s head appeared around the bedroom door.  
“Wow! You actually are sorting your clothes out. Sure you don’t want help?”  
Carlos sighed as he realised what a mess he had made, dragging out stuff he hadn’t worn for ages and tipping it on the floor.  
“Yeah, may as well, if you’re not busy. Thanks.”

They spent forty minutes sorting, folding, trying on and throwing out. Cecil put on one of Carlos’s old baggy science shirts and pranced around saying, “I’m a scientist!” until Carlos laughed and tackled him to the floor, giggled _no you’re not!_ and removed the shirt, much to Cecil’s delight.  
They may have each lost a few other large items of clothing in the process and Carlos gave the shirt to Cecil to wear afterwards.

It wasn’t in Carlos’s closet.

Cecil fell asleep in front of the TV as usual. Carlos took the opportunity to slip into the bedroom and look under the bed. Cecil appeared, bleary-eyed and yawning. He smiled as he admired the view.  
“Dropped something?”  
Carlos swore as he banged his head.  
“No, I just wondered what I had stashed away under here. Have you seen… never mind.”  
Carlos cursed again, but silently, and wriggled back out from under the bed. Cecil came into the room, sat next to where Carlos leaned against it and stroked fingers through his lovely hair. Carlos closed his eyes and leaned his head against Cecil’s knee.  
“Mmm, Carlos? Since we’re both through here now perhaps we could have an early night.”

It wasn’t under their bed.

Next morning, Carlos locked the bathroom door, turned on the shower and rummaged in the airing cupboard. Surely it must be in here. He took out all the towels and spare toiletries, searched his half-forgotten gym bag and put everything back again. Cecil knocked on the door.  
“You okay, Carlos? Can I come in?”  
“Hang on a moment.”  
Carlos closed the cupboard and opened the bathroom door.  
“Still looking for whatever it is you can’t find?”  
“No, just tidying the spare towels.”  
“Uh- _huh_. You’ve been very tidy lately.”  
“A scientist likes a well-ordered environment.”  
Cecil did well not to laugh aloud.  
“That’s certainly true in your lab but I have to say I’m surprised by your recent attack of domestic orderliness. And impressed. Thank you, it’s nice to see the place so neat.”  
Carlos smiled and leaned over for a kiss.  
“You’re welcome.”  
Cecil grinned.  
“Since we’re in here and you clearly forgot to have your shower, do you want to save time and join me in there? I’ll wash your hair for you?”  
“Mmm. I’d like that.”  
It didn’t save time. Not really.

It wasn't in the airing cupboard.

After a leisurely breakfast and a walk, hand in hand through Grove Park, followed by ice creams that ruined their appetites for lunch, Carlos put his car in his garage and searched. He muttered to himself, like he often did when he was completely absorbed in science work.  
 _Gotta be somewhere. Everything is somewhere. Matter is never truly destroyed. Could have been converted into another form? Turned into energy? No, gotta be somewhere. A methodical, logical search will reveal its location in due course..._  
Cecil listened and smiled, shifting from one foot to the other and back again as he saw Carlos frown at the failure of his thorough inspection of the contents of the car trunk, back and footwell.  
"Carlos? Here's a bag for all the rubbish you're throwing out of the car. About time it got a good going over. Those wrappers were beginning to develop sentience."  
"Oh? Thanks Cecil! Have you seen the.... umm... never mind."  
"You _have_ lost something, haven't you?"  
"What? No, just clearing out the car."  
Cecil laughed and got into the passenger seat.  
"Remember that first time you drove me home?"  
Carlos smiled and gazed into Cecil's eyes.  
"I will never forget how terrified I was. I just..."  
Carlos stroked Cecil's cheek and kissed him gently.  
Cecil wasn't letting him away with just a kiss this time.

It wasn't in the car, or the garage.

Cecil went to work, hand clasped around the small object in his pocket. 

Carlos tuned in as usual.  
 _Listeners? My dear Carlos has been acting quite strangely recently. I know many of you think he is strange just because he is an interloper, but let me stop you right there. He was an outsider, yes, but he has won over the hearts of so many who matter to me. He is my favourite, my companion, the... dare I risk embarrassing him so? The love of my life._  
 _Anyway, listeners, have you ever wondered about the science of lost things? That blue sock, that... umm... plastic tubular perfectly legal writing implement with the green pigmented gel down the centre, and sparkles. Your memory of last night. Courage and youth. Where do lost things go to be found? I have always found things in the last place I looked, unless they were meant never to be found. In which case, why look? Sometimes lost things stay lost until they are ready for you. Sometimes things are deliberately hidden._  
 _Listeners? It is time to consider if what you have lost should simply be allowed to find you when it is ready._

After his show, Cecil went home and slotted his key into the lock with difficulty. The house was in darkness. He frowned at this lack of foresight on Carlos's part, a light left on to help guide his key would have been considerate. He let himself in quietly after a guilty realisation that he worked late and Carlos worked early. He might be asleep.

He was not.

The lounge at the back of the house was decorated with the soft light of candles. There was a bottle of champagne and a couple of glasses on the low table by the sofa. Carlos sat perched on the edge of a chair, watching the door.

"Cecil, I need to ask you two questions."  
"Oh... Oooohh?"  
"One... hey, have you seen the.... oh!"  
Carlos had been going to say _little red velvet box I've been carrying around with me for months but it disappeared a few days ago and I really miss it because it made me feel all oooh and I want it back so I can ask you..._

Cecil held out a little red velvet box, the one he had found and wondered about and thought about and decided about.  
"Um, two questions?"  
Carlos sighed with relief and took the box from Cecil.  
"Where did you find it!"  
"Is _that_ your second question?"  
"No! Um, Cecil, I wondered, I mean in this life nothing is certain and nothing is really forever but I wanted to ask you if..."  
"Yes."  
"But I haven't asked my question."  
"Yes. Yes I will."  
Carlos opened the box and offered it back to Cecil.  
"CecilGershwinPalmer,youbeautifulamazingman,willyoumarryme? umm, please?"


End file.
